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Features Added to Free EGNOS Software Development Kit

July 24, 2012  - By
Image: GPS World

Now GNSS smartphone application developers can benefit from a range of new features from Version 2 the European Commission’s free EGNOS Software Development Kit (SDK), reports the European GNSS Agency (GSA). The SDK helps developers to easily implement EGNOS corrections coming from the signal in space or the Internet, and make use of EGNOS advantages when using location-enabled applications.

The EGNOS SDK is a European Commission project that aims to foster the use of EGNOS in location-based services (LBS) applications for smartphones. It has been designed to allow application developers to take advantage of the benefits of EGNOS, and to use these in software they develop for mobile devices. The EGNOS SDK is the only toolkit — in an open-source library — that implements integrity and EGNOS corrections for a more accurate position than GPS alone can provide.
 
New EGNOS SDK features and improvements include:

  • Tracking feature: Allows application developers to choose different options to display their GPS and/or EGNOS and/or R&D position over the smartphone’s map.
  • Skyplot view: Enables to display the position of the overhead EGNOS and GPS satellites with a time span of +12h or -12h. This feature shows information about the number of EGNOS satellites available, the number of GPS satellites used for the computation of the R&D, EGNOS and GPS positions, and the number of satellites not used.
  • Advanced Skyplot view: Provides an augmented reality showing a live video streaming of the sky and can identify EGNOS and GPS satellites in real time.
  • R&D Position Type menu: Displays six features proposing innovative ways of computing a position by deviating from the EGNOS standard EGNOS DO-229D, to get  even greater accuracy:
  1. The Increased satellite constellation improving the satellite constellation used by adding GPS satellites not monitored by EGNOS.
  2.  The Best satellite constellation selecting the most suitable GPS satellites geometry for the computation of the position.
  3.  The 2D Positioning displaying the position even if only 3 GPS satellites are in view (4 satellites are normally the minimum needed to compute a position). This is important in urban situations, where surrounding buildings can obstruct a clear view of the sky, making it difficult to track four satellites or more.
  4. The Fast correction with no RRC improving the positioning by eliminating the jumps that the Range Rate Correction (RRC) might cause in the fast corrections applied to the pseudorange (PR) measurements.
  5. The Best Weight Matrix rating the satellites involved in the position computation on the basis of the most beneficial weight matrix.
  6. The SBAS ranging function enabling SBAS geostationary satellites to be used in the same way GPS satellites are used to compute a position

As far as integrity is concerned, the user can define different levels of integrity to be displayed (Horizontal Protection Level (HPL)): aviation, maritime or 85 percent.
 
Since its initial release in November 2011, the EGNOS SDK is providing a useful tool to application developers who need the additional accuracy provided by EGNOS accessible in smartphone applications, according to customers:

“I am interested in the toolkit because I started a project that aims at developing an application based on smartphones” – GeoMatica

“I found the toolkit interesting, especially SISNet, in Finland the EGNOS signal is low…the corrections I receive with SISNet are more reliable than those I could receive with the satellite” – VTT

The EGNOS SDK v.2 can be downloaded for free on the EGNOS Portal.